Monday, January 14, 2008

The Future of Art is Green




Any Athens resident that can press two keys on a keyboard has an opportunity to help the ecosystem thrive...just by playing a video game.

It's called Biomodd and it is a new exhibit in the city of Athens.

Biomodd is an assortment of recycled odds and ends that fuses video games … with nature.

Its creators, Angelo Vermeulen and Jeff Lovett, are calling it the future of art.

It is a social and interactive art project that brings together ecology, game culture, and installation of art.


How does it work?

Participants play the video game.

This pumps heat into a glass case filled with foliage, where the heat warms water flowing through tubes.

The water's increased temperature helps algae thrive in a nearby container.

Then the water trickles downward into a fish tank to cool down again.

This way every step contributes to Biomodd's ecosystem.

Biomodd is a part of the Aesthetics Techonologies Lab.



Otherwise known as the @ Lab, The Aesthetics Technology Lab, is the trans-disciplinary Research and Development unit of the College of Fine Arts.


According to their website, The @Lab’s role is to provide the tools and resources to promote creative inquiry at the intersection of technology development and fine arts practice.


Its focus is to support projects that integrate high-end technology as an integral component in the art-making process, as well as projects that include cross-disciplinary collaboration to inform their outcomes.


The goal of the @Lab is to develop and nourish a center of local, regional and international prominence both in its intellectual, as well as its artistic / aesthetic contributions.


The Biomodd is part of this endeavor.


The director of the lab, Katherine Milton says that the mission is to bridge the language barrier between science and the arts.


This the first time that the entire project has been put together in one place.


The Biomodd is located at Union Arts, W. Union Street.

The exhibit is free and open to the public from 3-8pm daily until January 22nd.

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